In this episode we’ll be looking at the music of Doctor’s composer Dudley Simpson, as well as the use of period stock music in Doctor Who. Here we will examine Serial 4M – Story 86 – The Masque of Mandragora, a 4-part serial originally broadcast between the 4th and 25th of September 1976 on BBC One.

DEDICATION – Dr. Phill – I would like to dedicate this episode to my brother Fred “Count Federico” Serna, in honour of his birthday, to whom I really owe a great deal for introducing me to Doctor Who as a youth in the late 1980s. Being a great influence on my career in Early Music, this particular story always had a special place in our household as one that was equally enjoyed by myself and both of my brothers. This is why I found this particular episode was a labour of love, and a joy to research. Cheers to you on your birthday, and may you always enjoy this unorthodox love-letter to our youths each and every year on your birthday.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS – DR. LOU: I am an Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Nevada, Reno, where I write about and teach classes on avant-garde and popular music of the post-war era, focusing on musics that bridge the categories of high and low culture in society through media technology. In other words, I write about pretty music made on complicated equipment used in television and radio. Most of my stuff tends to be about music in the UK, although I have also written about American science fiction. My most recent publication is a history of the BBC’s electronic music studio, the Radiophonic Workshop, for Oxford University Press. Before becoming chair of the music department in Reno, I taught classes about television music, film music, music and gender, and popular music, as well as the more standard classical music history courses. After getting my undergraduate degree in singing from the University of Iowa, I spent a few hazy years bartending in nightclubs, listening to lots of dance music, and traveling as much as possible to England. Eventually, I decided I needed a career and did a Masters degree in musicology at the University of Texas at Austin, writing a thesis on music in Doctor Who. After that I moved to Los Angeles and did a PhD at UCLA in musicology, studying with Susan McClary and Philip Brett, among other amazing scholars. At UCLA I wrote what would become the first half of my Radiophonic history as my dissertation.

I also, like Dr. Phil, am a performer of early music. But unlike him, for me it is purely a dilettante pursuit. I have sung early music since 1989, and at UCLA was the director of their early music ensemble, Musica Humana. Upon moving to Reno, I founded REM (Reno Early Music), Reno’s premiere early music group. Actually, we are Reno’s only early music group. But it’s fun. I also run the Reno Time Team, a local group making our way through all of classic Doctor Who. For more information on Louis Niebur, visit http://www.unr.edu/cla/music/pages/bios/niebur.htm, and for information on Reno Early Music, visit http://wolfweb.unr.edu/homepage/boardman/music_REM.htm. For more information on Special Sound: The Creation and Legacy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, visit http://www.unr.edu/cla/music/publications/special_sound.htm.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS – DR. PHILL: My name is Dr. Phillip Serna – you can call me Dr. Phill as many of my colleagues, friends and students do. I’m a performer and teacher here in the Chicago area where I received my Master & Doctoral degrees in Music at Northwestern University. On double bass I perform solo, chamber, orchestral and contemporary literature. I am also a performer of Early Music on viols – or violas da gamba – a family of bowed guitars that were popular in Europe from the 15th through the late 18th centuries.

On double bass, I perform with many ensembles including the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Illinois Symphony Orchestra, New Philharmonic Orchestra, Northbrook Symphony Orchestra, the Northshore Camerata, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and many others. In Early Music, I regularly perform on violas da gamba (treble viol, tenor viol and bass viol), period double bass/ violone and vielle with modern orchestras such as the Concord Chamber Orchestra and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, as well as with period instrument ensembles such as Ars Antigua, the Bach Collegium of Fort Wayne, the Callipygian Players, the Chicago Early Music Consort, Duo fantaisie en Echo, the Madison Bach Musicians, the Newberry Consort, the Oriana Singers, the Second City Musick, the Spirit of Gambo – a Chicago Consort of Viols, the Third Coast Viols and many others. In performance, I’ve appeared on Chicago’s 98.7FM WFMT, Wisconsin Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Radio. My Early Music Outreach program ‘Viols in Our Schools’ was the recipient of the 2010 Early Music America Outreach Award, which honors ensembles or individual artists for excellence in early music outreach and/or educational projects for children or adults. For more information, visit http://www.violsinourschools.org/About.html orhttp://www.phillipwserna.com/.

ABOUT OUR THEME: The theme to ADVENTURES IN TIME, SPACE AND MUSIC is a remix by Isaac Arsenault. Isaac started mashingup music in the winter of ’09, After reading Jordan Roseman’s “Audio Mashup Construction Kit.” Working with sound Equipment and being technical leader for two bands he opened his taste for music by studying it mathematically and learning the science behind it. To find out more about Isaac’s work, visit http://www.twitter.com/drautobob.

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"...I've been listening to all the podcasts, and just wanted to say what a fantastic series of shows. Thoroughly enjoyed them all, and learnt a lot of stuff I didn't know about my fellow Who composers! Nice work!"